samuel c



(No Model.) 2 SheetsSheet 1.

S. G. OLIPHANT. GOLD sErAEA oE.

Patented Den 885.

WITNESSES: u V INVENTOR:

5 E g 9 i BY 5 ATTORNEYS.

(No Model.)

s. 0. OLIPHANT.

GOLD SEPARATOR.

2 SheetsSheet 2.

Patented Dec. 1, 1885.

N PEIERS. Phflwlinlhngraphen Wasmnglun. D. c.

INVENTOR Jaw VJ. 60 H M;

ATTORNEYS.

UNITED STATES PATENT @rricn.

SAMUEL O. OLIPHANT, OF NOVINGER, MO., ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF, SAMUEL I M. PIGKLER, AND WILLIAM H. JOHNSON, ALL OF SAME PLACE.

GOLD-SEPARATO R.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 331,649, dated December 1, 1885.

' Application filed July 23, 1885. Serial No. 172,419. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern: Each of the compartments G (3 of tank Be it known that I, SAMUEL O. OLIPHANT, is provided with a stone filter, D, made prefof Novinger, in the county of Adair and State erably of sandstone, said filters being placed of Missouri, have invented a new and Imover openings through which the filtered wa- 5 proved Gold-Separator, of which the followter may pass into storage-tanks E, placed be- 5 5 ing is a full, clear, and exact description. low the tank 0, and from which tanks E the Myinvention relates to gold-separating mawater may be taken for use over and over chines adapted particularly for the working again in the main tank B, this arrangement of auriferous sands or gravels containing of the water-tanks permitting the working of free gold, and has for its object to promote a the separator withacomparativelysmall quan- 60 better separation of the gold, especially the tity of water. The tanks may be otherwise finer gold particles contained in very fine arranged, but the relative positions shown are sands, so as to avoid waste of the gold, and at present preferred. If desired, fine sievealso to secure the effective separation of the cloth F may be placed over the outlets from gold with a minimum supply of water. I the tank 0, and beneath the stone filters D, 6 use amain water-tank and water filtering and as shown in Fig. 1. The filters D serve not receiving tanks, and a plunger worked in the only to filter the water, but to save the very main tank by a jigger-arm. fine gold as the water filters through them,

The invention consists in particular con which gold may be recovered by any apstructions and combinations of parts of the proved process. 7Q gold -separat0r, all as hereinafter fully de- The letter G indicates the plunger-sieve, to scribed and claimed. opposite ends of which are connected pivot- Beference is to be had to the accompanying ally at g the upright bars G,which have a sedrawings, forming part of this specification, in ries of holes, 9', for the passage of pivot-pins 5 which similar letters of reference indicate cor h,whieh also pass through the slotted ends of 75 responding parts in all the figures. the diagonally-ranging arms or hounds h h of Figure 1 is a vertical sectional elevation the jigger-arm H, which is pivoted at i i, at of the separator. Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan the ends of its cross-beam, to the posts II, fixed view of part or half of the gold-receiving pan, either to the tank B or frame A. The arm H its cover being closed. Fig. 3 is a vertical extends backward from tank B a snfiicient 8o sectional elevation of the gold-receiving pan, distance to afford a good leverage for working taken on the line mm, Fig. 2. Fig.4 is aplan it up and down by its handle crossbar h", view of the separator,drawn to the same scale which may be grasped by a man standing on as Fig. 1, the gold-receiving pan being rea platform, J, for lowering and raising the moved from the main tank and the jiggerplunger-sieve G in the tank B. A plank, J, 85 arm being partly broken away. Fig. 5 is a leads from the platform J to the tank, to allow bottom view of the plunger-sieve, and Fig. the operator to pass to and from the tank. 6 is an enlarged end View of the plunger- Curved or arched top bars or plates 9 are sieve and part of one of its hangers. fixed to the opposite ends of the plunger-sieve,

The letter A indicates a suitable frameand these bars haveaseries of holes, into c work or support on which is placed the main any one of which a pin or set-screw, may tank B, in which the plunger-sieve is operbe passed into a hole in the hanger G, for levated, and below tank B is placed a tank, 0, cling the plunger to insure its best operation divided into two compartments, G O, by a in the tank B, and the bars 9' serve also as 5 central partition, 0, and into either of which handles in adjusting the sieve to the jigger- 5 compartments the water I) from tank B may arm in the tank. be delivered by a tube, B, bent to form a I make the plunger G with a sieve-bottom, siphon, and supported on the tank B by a 001- K, consisting of a frame, 75, and suitable crosslar, b, and it may be also by a suitable cord, bars, 7a, which gives support to the sieve wire If, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1. or cloth k; or it may be a wire-netting made :00

of one-quarter-inch iron bars or rods. On this cloth or netting rests the body of lead L, consisting of lead cuttings of various shapes and sizes. The sand M to be operated upon is filled into the plunger over the lead cuttings in suitable quantity to be relieved of the gold, as presently explained. The top or cover N of the plunger G is hinged to the plunger at one side, as at n, and a suitable catch, at, is arranged opposite the hinges to lock the cover closed, and, if preferred or necessary, a suitable packing will be used between the plunger and its cover to insure a tight joint.

To the cover N is fixed a tube, 0, which communicates with the interiorof the plunger and projects above the cover sufficiently to prevent entrance of water through it to the interior of the plunger, when it is worked upv and down in the tank B, and so as to allow the air to pass freely into and out of the plunger as the bodies of lead and sand L M in the plunger are shifted or agitated by the sudden jigging motions of the plunger in the tank.

I prefer to make theplunger-cover N mainly of a flexible or elastic materialsuch as rubber webbing-fixed to a frame, to which the cover-hinges connect, and I prefer to fasten to the flexible material a hollow chamber, R, made of tin or some light material. The air-tube O is fixed to the upper wall of chamber R, which has an outlet or passage, r, through its lower wall to the interior of the plunger. (See Fig. 1.)

In the bottom of the tank B is placed the gold-receiver, which consists of a shallow pan, S, loosely fitting the side walls of the tank, and which has filled into it abouta half-gallon of mercury, as at T, Fig. 1. The cover U of the pan S has apertures a, through which the gold passes to the mercury, said apertures a being formed at the intersecting bases of a series of pyramidal corrugations, which guide the descending gold particles into and through the apertures u to the mercury. The projections formed by the corrugations of the cover U may be ofconicalor other shape; but the pyramidal projections, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, are at present preferred. The cover is hinged to the pan S at u, and locked to it at a and the pan has handles 8, by which it may be lifted from the tank B to discharge itsvcontentsinto any suitable receptacle.

The operation is as follows: A suitable quantity of auriferous sand, M, is filled into, the plunger G upon the bed L of lead cuttings say up to about one-third orthree-eighths the height of the plunger-and the cover is closed and latched. The plunger then will be submerged in the tank B, and will be given light jerking movements up and down by the j iggerarm H at about a speed of seventy strokesper minute,to loosen the bed L of lead cuttings and agitate the sand M at each stroke, andthe fine gold will settle in and through the lead bed L, and will fall through the seive-bottom K into the tank and upon the coverU of the panS, and through the coverapertures 11. into the mercury T,which arrests it for subsequent treatment by any approved process.

In further explanation of the action of the plunger, I state that by its movements in the water-tank by the jigger-arm the larger pieces or particlesof lead forming the lead-plate Lin the plunger will settle to the bottom of the plunger,and the next smaller pieces on these, and so on with the smallest particles or pieces of the lead at the top of the lead bed, and the lead bed will be of sufficient depth in the plunger to prevent the sand from working down through it into the water-tank and mercurypan. The flexible cover N of the plunger will be raised or inflated at the center by the buoyancy of the air-chamber R as the plunger makes its downstrokes, so as to facilitate the exit of the air from the plunger as the lead bed L and sand M are raised or agitated; but, the cover will serve well with the air-tube. 0. alone and Without the air-chamber R.

It will be understood that the cover Nwill be used only when working finesands containing very fine gold, as. said cover serves, principally, to prevent the fine or float goldin tankB from settling on the surface of the sand in the plunger as, the plunger is lifted in the said tank; hence none of thefine goldwill be thrown away with the worked sand and be lost. In working heavier or coarser sands the gold particles therein will all quickly find their way to the mercury-pan, and the plunger may be used without the cover N when working such material. After each charge of sand is worked the plunger will be raised by the jigger-arm H until the top of the lead bed L isat the water surface, and the refuse sand will be removed to make room for the next charge; of sand, which will be worked as above described. When the days. work is finished, the water in tank 13, will be siphoned from it by the tube or hose B. into either tank 0 or C and the filtered water may be. taken from one of the tanks E and filled into the tank 13. for the next days work; or the water may be changed as often. as may be necessary. The system, of double filtering and receiving tanks for the water avoids delays which otherwise might occur where the water-supply is limit,- ed, and enables the apparatus to be operated continuously with a very limited supply of water compared with those using a, constant water flow in. carrying out the separating pro.- cess.

The tanks 0 E may be covered or floored over, if desired.

I make no claim in this application for the particular. construction of the top of the men cury-pan with its pyramidal projections, as herein described, as said features, will form the subject-matter of a separate application for Letters, Patent which I now contemplate making.

Having thus described my invention, what-I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- 1. A gold-separator comprising a water- 1 tank, a plunger-sieve operated therein, double filtering-tanks, and receivers for the filtered Water, substantially as herein set forth.

2, A gold -separator comprising a Watertank, B, a plunger, G, operated therein, tanks 0 0, provided with filters D, and receivers E for the filtered water, substantially as herein set forth.

3. In a gold separator, the combination, with a water-tank and a plunger-sieve operated therein, of a cover applied to the plunger and provided with an outlet for the air from the interior of the plunger, substantially as herein set forth.

4. In a gold-separator, the combination, with a water-tank and a plunger-sieve operated therein, of a flexible cover applied to the plunger and provided with an outlet for the plunger-hangers G, of the bars 9, provided 30 with series of holes 9 and the pins or screws 9*, substantially as herein set forth.

SAMUEL O. .OLIPHANT. Witnesses:

SAMUEL M. PIoKLER, J OHN SHOWER. 

